Fall Reading Challenge: Update #1

It’s been almost three weeks since starting my fallreading challenge.  I’m actually further along than I thought I would be at this point. 

I have finished my first book, College Girl by Patricia Weitz.  This wasn’t a difficult read, nor was it overly exciting, but I enjoyed it.  It’s about Natalie’s journey through her last two years at college—how she abandons her studies for a guy that doesn’t treat her well, how she deals with her brother’s suicide and her horrible family, how she faces her lack of self-confidence, and how she learns to move on in life.  The story isn’t so much about the things she does, but how her emotions and way of thinking changes throughout the book.  Though it was a good story, I did feel that her journey could have been described in a little more detail.  The reader gets a sense of her inner turmoil, and though we get a sense of how deep that turmoil goes, we don’t get to really delve into the specifics of it—the reader doesn’t feel it, or at least I didn’t.  However, I do recommend it for anyone who’s looking for a book with a college/school setting.

I am now moving on to The Witch’s Daughter by Paula Brackston.  Originally I was going to wait until closer to Halloween to read this one, but it was chosen by default—Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan was checked out, and the my library’s copy of The Secret History by Donna Tartt is falling apart and quite grubby (highly unusual for my library to keep such a copy).  That one I will get from another library when I get myself to a different location.  I could have moved on to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani, but I decided to wait and take that on vacation with me in a few weeks—I own the book, so if something happens to it, I won’t feel so bad.  Plus, it’s a paperback copy and won’t be so heavy to cart around with me.  And since we’re going to a tropical location (more on that forthcoming), I can bring the two sequels to read on the beach if I have the time.

One down, four to go!